


borrowed time

by theheartfalls



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, SO, just warning you now, looking for alaska!au, that's a thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-03
Updated: 2013-05-03
Packaged: 2017-12-10 06:25:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/782849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theheartfalls/pseuds/theheartfalls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>if you've read looking for alaska, you know the best day/worst day scene. and if you know that, you know this. and i'm so sorry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	borrowed time

**Author's Note:**

> this is a little drabbly bit of nonsense for my friend oddny, written spur of the moment. if you haven't read looking for alaska by john green, this might not make a whole ton of sense, so keep that in mind if you do read it. and if you do, and you know what's about to happen, i'm really sorry. 
> 
> i'll probably write more of these later, because i have a list of oddny's favorite parts from the book and occasional free time. ;) 
> 
> but for now... there's this!

the barn was crowded, stacked high with bales of hay. saddles hung from pegs on the walls and riding gear littered the room, long abandoned since the school put an end to their equestrian events years ago.

now the barn was more of a storage facility by day and a group hang out by night.

"it's literally perfect." louis said as he pushed open the doors and led their small huddle inside. the only light was what seeped inside behind them, but it was enough to see by so they wouldn't trip and impale themselves, so he was calling it a success. 

trudging past him, liam dropped the box he had been laden with the entire walk down from the dorms, the glasses rattling together loudly as he did so.

"you break any of those and your neck is mine, payne." zayn shot at him accusingly, already diving in and grabbing one of the bottles and popping the lid off as he jumped up onto one of the hay stacks and made himself a chair. 

liam didn't respond, just watching him and shaking his head a little. it appeared no alcohol was enough alcohol anymore.

harry, for his part, seemed completely oblivious to liam's preoccupation. liam nearly jumped straight out of his skin when he felt a soft hand land on his hip, steering him in the opposite direction and pulled him into a seated position. he leaned back against the hay bale behind him, content to sit there with harry's hand on his thigh and niall shoving a new bottle in his own hand. 

"cheers, mate!" niall crowed, two fisting it like he was so widely known for doing. liam couldn't read the labels, but the dim light gave him the vague idea that liam was mixing his alcohols and he was sure he had read somewhere that that was prone to cause the worst kind of hangovers.

he didn't say that, however, because that would be boring. adult. too grown up for the crowd he was trying to incorporate himself into now. 

silence started growing in the room as they all set themselves up, spread out but still close together. it wasn't awkward, but it was oddly quiet. 

and as the silence stretched, liam could hear louis starting to get restless. just the tapping of his foot at odd moments or the shift of his weight as he rolled around restlessly. 

then, almost as if on cue, zayn started to sigh heavily between long pulls of vodka or tequila or whatever it was he was holding in his hand.

"alright, fuck this." he said suddenly, and everyone turned to look up at him where he was perched high above them all. "i'm bored. we need to do something interesting. please." 

louis stood up at that, nodding solemnly as if zayn had just spoken the wisest words he'd ever heard. "i call for a drinking game. accepting suggests beginning.... now!" 

"strip poker!" niall called out immediately, but when harry's hand shot out to slap his arm, he sank back down onto the floor and shrugged. 

"quarters?" harry piped up from beside liam.

when louis glanced his way, there was an amused patience in his eyes. "no table, harold." 

harry didn't seem bothered by having his idea shot down, just taking another drink from liam's bottle, which was fine since liam wasn't drinking it anyway. 

"best day/worst day." zayn said suddenly, jumping down from his perch and moving to sit across the floor from liam and harry. there was enough space between them that they couldn't touch, but liam could see him clearly from the soft light coming through the door and that was enough.  
"i have never heard of that game therefore i'm gonna have to say-"

zayn cut louis off, yanking on his belt to pull him down into a seated position, though he gave a howl of protest the entire way. "it's not a drinking game. normally. it's probably not even a game." 

"so how are we gonna play?" niall asked, though he didn't seem phased. he'd be leaving here completely plastered regardless. he wasn't ever picky about how he got there.

"we make it up as we go, obviously." zayn replied with a shrug. 

louis seemed somewhat appeased, sitting up properly now and looking at zayn. "your game, you explain it." he demanded, as if he were doing zayn a favor by giving him this chance. 

zayn just rolled his eyes, looking around. "everyone tells the story of the best day of their life. whoever's story sounds best, wins and they don't drink. same goes for the worst day, and then back to best day and so on and so forth until someone pukes or quits." he explained, as if this was a common game and he hadn't just made it all up right off the top of his head.

liam was trying desperately not to smile at his ingenuity. harry probably wouldn't appreciate his doe eyes. 

"you go first, liam. our little newby." niall spoke up, stretching so he could kick liam's ankle lightly. 

liam bit his lip, looking down at the bottle in his hand as he considered. he ran through a list in his head. birthdays, holidays, big events he'd been apart of. nothing stuck out, nothing really made him smile, but he continued to count forward in his head, starting at his earliest memory and thinking up until present day. 

"clocks ticking, payno." louis shot out suddenly, and liam just flipped him off without even looking up at him. there was a soft chuckle and liam knew it was zayn, but he didn't let himself focus on that. instead, he thought about the best day of his life and the way harry was rubbing his thumb back and forth on a small area of his leg.

"the day i transferred." he said finally, looking up at them all. "when i moved into my dorm room and met louis and... all of you." he had almost said zayn. almost, but not quite. 

"well that is the sappiest shit i have ever heard in my life." louis said, but he was smiling regardless and that made liam feel a little better. louis could be a bit tough to crack and sometimes liam needed the reminder that louis did actually care. 

"alright, next." liam said, wanting everyone to stop staring at him. 

niall went next, proclaiming that his brother's wedding was his favorite day. "the biggest buffet of my life. thought i was never gonna eat again." he told them, a soft, happy sigh following the words that had harry giggling under his breath. 

"how did i know yours would involve food?" zayn asked him, shaking his head and tipping his bottle back to take a long drink. "i don't think anyone's beating liam's cheese factor. time to move on." he said decidedly.

"you don't have a good day to share?" liam asked, looking at zayn full on for the first time that night. 

zayn leveled him with a clear gaze, shrugging. "not many good days to tell about." he added, before flicking a bottle cap his way and smirking. "and we all know louis is gonna spew on and on about el, so you still win." 

louis' "heyyyy" was drown out by niall's laughter and then harry was sitting up. 

"i'll go first for this one." he said decidedly, voice quieter now.

everyone stayed silent, because it was a rare occasion that harry talked about anything serious. most of his stories were joking or so pointless that they were laughable, but there was something incredibly sobering about him now that had even niall sitting up and keeping quiet.

"my worst day is when i came out to my parents." he started, looking down at his hands. he reached over, taking the bottle from liam, but he didn't take a drink. he just held it, like he was looking for something to do. "my mom cried for an hour and my dad helped me pack my bags. i haven't seen either of them since." 

he was quiet, clearly finished, but no one spoke. liam reached over and took one of his hands, curling his own fingers through harry's, and harry returned the pressure wordlessly. 

"hate to outdo you, harry, but i think i have you beat." zayn spoke up finally, standing up suddenly. liam's eyes followed him, watching zayn turn his back on them all as he spoke. "the worst day of my life was when i watched my mom die." 

"fucking hell, z." louis spluttered suddenly, clearly having expected anything but that. 

zayn didn't even flinch, just going on with his story. "i was seven. we were home alone, i guess my dad was at work but that didn't matter at the time. we were in the kitchen baking, because i wanted cookies. i remember she had a headache all day, but i had bugged her. i was relentless, and she finally caved and got up to make them for me while i sat on the counter and talked her ear off." 

there was a buzz in the room, or maybe just in liam's own head, but he felt like he was floating along, completely out of balance. he couldn't seem to come back to earth, sick to his stomach and wanting to tell zayn to 'stop, just stop, you don't have to do this'. 

"she collapsed, right after the timer went off. and i just sat there. she had screamed, i think, but then she was silent and that's it. i just sat there."

liam wanted to stand up, wanted to go over to him, wanting to do something. 

instead, he held onto harry's hand and he watched as everyone simultaneously raised the bottles and took a long drink. zayn was behind them, and he drank the longest, and then he was joining the circle again. he wrapped his arms around his legs, and liam hadn't looked away from him once, but zayn was smiling at him as soon as their eyes locked.

catching the movement as zayn did it, liam saw him tapping on the yin-yang tattoo on his arm. "guess we're a perfect fit now, huh?" he joked, but liam couldn't bring himself to laugh.

and later, when everyone was substantially drunker and louis had convinced liam to do enough shots that he started drinking all on his own, liam couldn't bring himself to look at zayn anymore.

but he also couldn't stop himself from thinking about zayn's lips when he was kissing harry in their sleeping bags. because harry didn't line up with him the way he imagined zayn would. 

maybe they were the perfect fit.


End file.
